Martinsburg Bulldogs from West Virginia bark last in victory over Riverside Beavers. @MburgFootball @_RHSFootball

Tagged under: Beyond The Keystone, Game Photos, Gameday Hub, News

David Burnworth | October 10, 2021

Yesterday afternoon the football schedule took me to Painesville, Ohio to watch the number one team in the state of West Virginia battle Painesville Riverside. In talking with some of the tremendously passionate fans of the Bulldogs I was able to learn some of them drove as many as five hours to watch their team play and that their team was missing four or five starters including Bowling Green recruit Todd Braxton. In meeting with an offensive coordinator in the Northern, Ohio area I also was able to learn that Riverside has a super-strong Freshman and eighth-grade class coming up in the ranks which should make them even better in the near future.

The Beavers would face a third and six early in this one where Cameron Simpson easily picked up the yardage needed to move the chains. Seconds later Dominic Tromba moved the ball to the Bulldogs one-yard line setting up his own one-yard touchdown run. Sean Kerwood hit the point after kick making this a 7-0 game. with 6:16 left in the opening quarter.

Sophomore Murphy Clement a very talented quarterback for the Bulldogs would throw to his ultra-talented brother Hudson for a forty-two-yard gain. That combo would bark loud many times in this game.

Murphy Clement would find Jay Lardy for a touchdown at the 4:04 mark of the quarter, after Brent Terwilliger made good on his point-after kick we were locked up at seven.

Terwilliger’s kickoff took a big bounce that seemed to freeze the Beavers kick return team making it easy for Hudson Clement to recover it for the Bulldogs. Jacob Barrick would pick up nine-yard to get things moving for the Bulldogs offense. The drive ended with thirty-nine seconds left in the quarter on a Murphy Clement score on a fourth and three call from the three-yard line making this a 13-7 game as the teams prepared for quarter number two.

A bad snapped was bobbled by Ezra Bagent with the result being a Jack Tatum-like hit by Henry Busch that gave the Bulldogs a six-yard loss. Bagent recovered nicely from the bobbled snap when he connected with Hudson Clement to pull off a fake punt with 8:30 remaining in the half. That same combo would make this a 19-7 game with an eight-yard scoring play a short time later.

Cameron Simpson would find Trey Reutter for a forty-four-yard gain that took the ball all the way to the Bulldogs four-yard-line. Busch would take it from there to make this a 19-14 game, with 3:07 left in the half.

Bagent would hit Stephon Barclay and Hudson Clement twice on the ensuing drive to help set up a twenty-five-yard spring to the end zone by Connor Lawlor, with 1:24 left in the half to make this a 25-14 game.

The half ended on a Simpson twenty-eight-yard strike to Michael Tromba. The first half was like a heavy-weight fight. One team would punch the other in the face, with a counter hook to the head being the response.

Simpson would connect with Jake Elly for a nineteen-yard gain to get things started for the Beavers in the third. He ended the drive with a twenty-five-yard touchdown pass to Busch to cut the Bulldogs lead to 25-20, with 8;36 showing on the clock.

The Bulldogs would respond at the 4:41 mark of the quarter when Murphy Clement used his feet to race for the forty-five-yard score making this a 32-20 game.

The Beavers were able to work the ball deep inside Bulldogs territory before the quarter ended but a penalty would put them into a fourth and goal from the fifteen, where the pass by Simpson was batted away by Pierson Roman.

Simpson would find Brady McKnight for a fourteen-yard gain with 9:48 to help set up a four-yard touchdown run by Tromba to make this a 32-27 game, after the point after kick was made. The momentum from this drive carried over to the Beavers defense where Busch and Tromba laid the pads to Xavion Kendall for a short loss. Then Jason Ryan got his hands on the ball after it looked like he basically took it from Murphy Clement, he then raced thirty-four-yard to give the Beavers a 33-32 lead with a little over six minutes left in the game.

Martinsburg never had time to panic because Bagent threw to a wide opened Hudson Clement, who outran the defense for the seventy-five-yard score to make this a 38-33 game, with 5:51 left. I spoke with Hudson Clement after the game and asked him how things went so good so easily for him. And as any team player would do he gave all the credit to his teammates and coaching staff. He said the line was able to do their job long enough for his quarterbacks to throw the ball making his catches very easy. I left him with you are the best possession type receiver I have watched all season and another state title right? He said thank you and yes.

The Bulldogs owned the final 4;11 seconds of this one. A sack on Simpson by EJ Hendrix along with an interception by Rafael Taylor-Perotti was sandwiched in between a twenty-eight-yard Clement to Clement pass and a two-yard touchdown run from Murphy Clement that gave is our final 45-33 score.

At the end of the game in response to the take me home country roads sign the passionate fans I set near from Martinsburg all started singing the song to the Riverside fans as they were departing the stadium. It looked like the Bulldog players were enjoying the show.

UNOFFICIAL STATS

MARTINSBURG

62 PLAYS

521 YARDS

PASSING 21-26 3 TD’S

RIVERSIDE

57 PLAYS

336 YARDS

PASSING 11-23 1 TD 1 INT

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